Sentencing set for man in extortion of suicidal A&M prof

Updated 10:56 am, Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Daniel Timothy Duplaisir , 37, is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court Tuesday on a charge of using a phone and the Internet to extort money from Aune.

Daniel Timothy Duplaisir , 37, is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court Tuesday on a charge of using a phone and the Internet to extort money from Aune.

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James Arnt Aune, 59, who chaired the A&M's Department of Communication, committed suicide on Jan. 8.

James Arnt Aune, 59, who chaired the A&M's Department of Communication, committed suicide on Jan. 8.

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Professor James Arnt Aune

Professor James Arnt Aune

Photo: Texas A&M

Sentencing set for man in extortion of suicidal A&M prof

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Sentencing for a man who pleaded guilty to extortion in a Texas A&M professor's suicide has been rescheduled to Nov. 18.

Daniel Duplaisir, of Metairie, La., was previously scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes' courtroom.

Prof. James A. Aune, 59, committed suicide Jan. 8 by jumping off the roof of an A&M campus parking garage.

The next day, his wife told authorities that Aune had confided to her in mid-December that he had become involved in sexually explicit chat with a minor he met online, according to court records.

He told his wife that the girl's father was extorting him to pay for therapy the girl needed, records state.

Messages from Duplaisir to Aune often included obscenities and threats.

As shown in the court record, one text stated: "If I do not hear from you I swear to God Almighty that the police in your place of employment, students ALL OVER THE INTERNET ... ALL OF THEM will be able to see your conversations, text, pictures you sent."

Duplaisir admitted communicating with Aune by internet and cell phone and claimed to have been working with another individual to perpetrate the extortion, but authorities found no evidence to support that claim, records state.